Wuchak A recently divorced blonde bombshell in Reno (Marilyn Monroe) befriends three guys and stirs their passions: An aging cowboy (Clark Gable), a cynical bush pilot (Eli Wallach) and a brooding rodeo contender (Montgomery Clift). They take an excursion to capture wild mustangs for profit. Thelma Ritter is on hand as a fifth misfit in the first half."The Misfits" (1961) was Gable and Monroe's final film and Clift's last significant one. Gable passed away a few days after shooting from a heart attack while Marilyn died 18 months after its release. Clift was dead by 1966. Even Ritter died before the 60s were over.It's a B&W drama with Western elements and haunting reflections on the nature of life and death, reminiscent of those Tennessee Williams' flicks of the era, like "The Night of the Iguana" and "The Fugitive Kind." The characters are lost souls who drown out their pain with lots of drinking and shallow socializing. Monroe is voluptuous and charismatic; and there are thematic gems here and there, like Gay's potent commentary on doing something with pure intentions while society pulls a bait-and-switch and it becomes morally dubious or outright bad. The film's also a fascinating period piece.FYI: Director John Huston originally wanted Robert Mitchum for Gable's role, but by the time they worked the kinks out of the script Mitchum was busy with another project. The writer, Arthur Miller, was Marilyn's husband during shooting, but they were officially divorced 11 days before its release.GRADE: B+/A-

garethrleyshon The Misfits tells the story of recently divorced Roslyn (Marilyn Monroe), and the friendship that she develops with car mechanic Guido (Eli Wallach), aging cowboy Gay (Clark Gable) and failing rodeo rider Perce (Montgomery Clift). Centered on how their relationships develop during their time at Guidos house in the Nevada desert and at the Dayton rodeo, these relationships finally become tested when the three men decide to hunt horses to be sold to a dog food manufacturer, much to Roslyns distress.The Misfits essentially is about the way that people inadvertently treat others badly, culminating in the obvious mistreatment of the mustangs, innocent beings in the proceedings. The irony here is The Misfits script was meant as a gift from Arthur Miller to his wife, Monroe; the role of Roslyn being one that Marilyn could truly act. Yet Miller strangely unfavourably portrays Roslyn from time to time in the film. Occasionally naive, occasionally nothing more than the image of the sex symbol Monroe desperately craved to escape.Regardless, Marilyn puts in her greatest performance, one which sexy and alluring, but filled with sadness and sensitivity.All the characters are reaching points in their life where they feel they having nothing left; the washed up cowboy, the failing rodeo rider, the new divorcee and the mechanic looking to quit his job. Meeting each other sees changes in our two protagonists; Roslyn starts to become a poster girl for independence, while drawing out Gays never seen before domestic side. However these changes are minor, meaning the development of the characters and any intended arc they are meant to have to their personas are more like a gentle incline. Gay retains his stubbornness, catching the horse himself at the end just to release it again in an act of defiance, to show he can still make his own decisions. Roslyn's breakdown at the fate at the horses, is sweet, but ultimately shows her as weak. Despite being part of the titular misfits, Perce and Guido are reduced to supporting characters who have no development whatsoever.The genre of the film is mixed too, with elements of buddy movie, romance, western and probably more, all rolled into one. While genre blending is all fine and good when its done well, here it seems halfhearted on all counts. The western element is perhaps the most dominant, but the whole film isn't stylised enough to be a classic western. There are moments when the narrative also feels like several stories that don't always fit together as they should. Perce, the rodeo cowboy generally feels superfluous to the plot, except when Roslyn hears his life story and expresses sorrow at his past.Overly long, The Misfits would have benefited from a shortened run time, the catching of the mustangs in the closing act, seems needlessly long. There are moments also, for example, Guido wrangling the horses in the plane for Gay and Perce to capture, when the score is overly dramatic and out of place, building up to an anticlimax of nothing at all. And finally the ending of the film, is strangely abrupt considering the run time, and one can only assume that Gay and Roslyn live happily ever after.BOTTOM LINE: Marilyns greatest performance in a film where the characters, or lack of, misfits.

gkeith_1 Spoilers. Observations. Opinions.Smashing. Totally wonderful. Human tragedy. Black and white wonder.Marilyn is an animal lover, whose philosophies predate the later great emphasis on animal rights. She doesn't want the wild mustangs hunted down, and Gable, Wallach and Clift are determined to do so. Forward to the final confrontation with these beautiful animals. I was thinking that the big stallion would kill all three men. No such luck.Misfits. People who don't fit in anywhere, but put together by life's coincidental circumstances. All devoid of spouses. Thelma Ritter and husband had split up for vague, to me, reasons. Marilyn, same, opposite the few seconds scene of Kevin McCarthy. Gable no spouse. Wallach widower whose wife had passed away because his car broke down and he couldn't get to the doctor, way out in the sticks of Nevada. What an idiot. Clift a mama's boy who didn't get his widdle inheritance. Boo-hoo, and never had a wife.Reno is stereotypically known as that famous mecca where unsuccessful marriages end. Ritter's house looks to be a hotel for visiting divorce candidates. Looks like there are bars and other businesses catering to the needs, and pocketbooks, of these traveling unfortunates.Did any of the men have an education? They had no professions. Their lives had become desperate searches for wild animals to be turned into pet food, and they spent their wasted days in this pursuit. They didn't want to work "for wages". They didn't want to be factory workers, or even Mr. Everyday American 9-to-5 clock-punchers.Marilyn had taught dancing before her marriage. Dancing in a cooch palace. Clift: "I was in a night club once." Marilyn's character was no Ginger Rogers or Isadora Duncan. Drunken Marilyn dances right into a huge tree, hugging it instead of the husband she dumped.The mustangs were over-hunted and almost extinct. Were their highly-numbered ancestors the mounts of the fabled Native American tribes who formerly occupied those mountains? One population was quickly dwindling, and the other seemed to have totally disappeared.Monroe was ill during shooting. She looked lovely, however. Gable was between illnesses, and had just spent some time crash dieting. His heart was soon to give out permanently, however. He was the real thing being pulled by the mustang over the desert, via rope. I feel that that was way too much punishment for his heart. I am a recent emergency heart surgery patient, and believe me I know the risks for further coronary damage.Witness the three "The Method" acting representations: Monroe, Wallach, Clift. They all studied, and were students in, classes providing this style of dramatic acting. I, too, as an actress, have studied The Method, and we have coursework in exercises in expressions of several emotions such as fear, happiness, hot, cold, memories, sick, drunk, etc. I feel that these three famous thespians all essayed their roles well. Monroe described her lonely life (real life). Wallach saw his late wife in his mind's eye. Clift on the phone: you could really see Mama on the other end of his whiny conversation.Gable wasn't a Method actor, but in his berserk scene in front of the bar you could see the next heart attack coming. He went crazy in his emoting, and should have collapsed on the set then and there. He had a wife and unborn child to support, so he had to collect that paycheck. I wonder why any doctor ever let him on the set. It was way too dangerous. The outside temperature was way over 100 degrees, and disastrous for someone with his medical history. He was 59, but looked 75. Frankly, my dear, use your brains. Retire before "the business" gets YOU. Obviously, that didn't happen. After a first heart attack and severe abuse to his body, he made this film.You've got to credit Gable with working literally to the end of his life. He wasn't like some current day retired actors who haven't made a picture in forty years. He has a ton of film credits to his name.An essay on Gable: Gable was from our state, in a rural area. He didn't come from an educated family. They were laborers. It is a blue collar area. I have visited his birth home, and taken its tour. Clark got out of the area when he had the wanderlust enough; Appalachia, anyone? He found a way older wife, and she paid for his entrée into theatre and Hollywood. She became his manager, and propelled him into what became the big time. Not bad for a big-eared kid from the sticks.I am a film critic and theatrical historian. I have studied Method acting, film censorship, singing, dance, mime and theatrical/cinematic history.

jazerbini The Misfits - A film that still come to the top of the great American films. Sure is a underrated movie, perhaps because it is the end of a movie career of Marilyn Monroe - who died in a short time - a little discredited at the time, because of his complicated life and aimlessly. But it is a great movie. Marylin has a perfect interpretation here, as the fragile Roslyn. Clark Gable also in late career (he would die shortly after the conclusion of the film), can give huge credibility to his character, a weary cowboy, no hope, no future. Eli Wallach, one of the greatest actors ever seen, has an extraordinary, unusual performance in his career. And Montgomery Clift manages to convey the anguish of a man who also walks to an uncertain, fragile and tormented future. Not enough this unusual group, we still have Thelma Ritter, possibly the greatest supporting actress in film history. Perfect and captivating. A photo in black and white is wonderful, perfectly suited to the film aims to show us. John Huston has here one of his good moments. The story is very good, with a screenplay by Arthur Miller and emotionally charged. The cast is impeccable as I said and the film has a touching end, where humans and nature are realizing that life is very simple. The man who complicates it. Worth watching The Misfits, and I mean even the day will come that he will be hailed as one of the greatest movies ever made